Beyond the Black Door by A. M. Strickland & Adrianne Strickland

Author:A. M. Strickland & Adrianne Strickland [Strickland, A. M. & Strickland, Adrianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult
ISBN: 9781250198747
Goodreads: 42642042
Publisher: Imprint
Published: 2019-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

While I took off my blood-soaked, ruined gown and cleaned myself with cloths and a basin of water that Nikha had brought up to my room—after she woke a servant to fetch the constable—she kept trying to apologize. To me. That was the reverse of what our situation should have been, but now, after she’d calmed down, she was more ashamed of dropping her guard and letting Gerresh ambush us than angry at me.

“I was distracting you, Nikha,” I tried to assure her.

“That’s not an excuse,” she muttered. “I shouldn’t have turned my back on you and the real danger. It was a beginner’s mistake, letting anger and frustration interfere with my job. I shouldn’t have left it up to you to do … whatever you did.”

“It’s okay,” I insisted, “because I’m not just your job. I’m your friend.” At least, I hoped I still was, after what she’d seen and what I was about to tell her.

There was nothing else for it. I shared what I knew about my mother’s murder, the Twilight Guild, and Razim—even that it was him she’d fought in the market. We briefly speculated over whether Gerresh had something to do with any of that, or if he was just a sickly soul who had become further unhinged after Nikha fired him. And then I told her about the Keepers, about how I’d known there was something wrong with Gerresh in the first place.

Hearing I was a soulwalker was the hardest for Nikha. She took several quick steps back from me, from where I sat in a clean nightgown on the edge of my pink-swathed bed. She moved in the direction of the door, as if she was ready to run.

Her first question was “Have you walked in my soul?”

I understood; it was the ultimate invasion of privacy, worse than a thief sneaking through your physical house and belongings. I cringed, wishing I could lie. But I couldn’t, not to her, not anymore. “Yes, but only once.” I hurried on at the horrified look on her face. “I didn’t see anything other than its most basic form. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t mention having opened the black door there, nor anything about Vehyn. I couldn’t quite bring myself to give up the last of my secrets.

“What—” She swallowed. “What did it look like?”

Of course, Nikha had never seen—nor would ever see—her soul. She almost sounded like she didn’t want to know, but I understood how she felt.

“It’s beautiful, Nikha. Big and warm and rich and … just beautiful. And I’ll never look again. I promise.”

“Okay.” She swallowed once more, and her feet edged closer to me. “So you’re a soulwalker. I’ve only met soulwalkers who serve in Heshara’s temples, and I’ve never seen a priestess put a fist through a man’s chest.”

“Yes.” I sighed. “That was something else.”

“Tell me,” she said. “You owe me the whole truth, especially since I’m about to go take responsibility for his death.”

And so I told her about the black door.

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